A Prairie Home Companion: Winona, MN TONITE

Listen in, folks. A Prairie Home Companion will be broadcast live tonight from Winona State's auditorium. And we will be in the audience. Yay!!

Warm Heads Are Good

I really, really wanted to knit Juan a hat in brioche stitch. But I could not, for the life of me, do it. I searched the web for days, found video instructions on Youtube, consulted all my books, and ended up throwing the yarn and needles across the room. That's when I decided that winter would eventually be over before I figured it out and Juan's poor head would remain bare. So, I decided to knit him Center Square. The doubled yarn pattern was a bit childish, so I adapted the pattern for single Aran yarn. The grey yarn is Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran and the black is from a Japanese company. Between the two, they are a combo of cashmere, silk, and merino wool. No itchy yarn for Mr. Juan. When I told him I needed a pic with the hat, he directed his own photoshoot with the Mac cam. So, here it is:

More gifts to showcase

I was thinking I was almost done with the Christmas showcase (considering it's the end of February, I'd say it's about time). I am still waiting on Meridith to give me a picture of her in her swing jacket, but I haven't posted Julian's presents yet either.

I started a sweater for him this past summer, using his favorite shade of blue. I knit the Sherwood pattern from Knitty.com. The only modification I made was to do ribbed sleeves, rather than continue the cable pattern there, too. I ran out of yarn and so it sat around for a while until I ordered more. (This is where the "haha I never have to use math again" victory dance on graduation has come back to bite me in the butt). When I washed it, the yarn got really soft and the sweater got wider as the ribs expanded. This also stretched out the neck too much, so I had to sew it together at the ends to avoid the flashdance look, which just doesn't work with a 7 year old boy. All in all, I like the pattern and how it turned out. I was pleasantly surprised at how soft the yarn got, as the itchy factor was a concern. It was Nashua Creative Focus Superwash wool, by the way. Of course, with Mr. Julian there is no way I'm going to get a still shot of him in the sweater.The sweater doubles as a floor mop. It's very versatile like that.Vanessa, I'm too busy playing with the cats to pose for your silly pictures.Aha! Got one when he wasn't looking :)

I also made a present for Julian for Christmas. As he is deep into the pirate obsession phase, I knew who I would be knitting it for when I saw the We Call Them Pirates hat pattern on Ravelry. This is a super fun hat to make and not nearly as hard as it looks.A close up of the skull and crossbones.

The Knitting Saga Returns: The Case of the Purple Yarn

I don't currently have a way to take digital pictures- our camera is on its last leg of life and on the last trip out East somehow we lost the cord to connect it to the computer... so, all I have is the internal camera of my computer. Which is why I have not been doing knitting updates, as they are more fun with pictures. But I do have some pictures for you, nevertheless, because I am resourceful like that. I hit a streak of knitting bad luck upon returning to Winona, but it seems to have turned now and I can once again talk about knitting without throwing yarn and needles across the room. A warning for non-knitting fans, this is a heavily yarn-centered post, so you might want to just skim the photos and be done. For those who do knit, you might have a similar story and be able to sympathize.

I ordered some yarn from Webs soon after Christmas during their blowout sale. One of the yarns I purchased was Classic Elite's Alaska yarn (50% alpaca 50% wool), which came in 25 yard balls. For those who don't knit, yarn usually comes in at least 60-something yard balls, while some come in 200-something yards. It usually depends on the thickness of the yarn- the thicker the yarn, the less the yardage, because they are usually 50g or 100g balls. So, in order to knit a particular project, I needed 13 balls of this 50g-25yd yarn. The project was a sort of last-minute, "oh they have a free pattern online for it and there's going to be a KAL in ravelry, I should make it because the yarn's so cheap," sort of affair. Thing is, I didn't do the math. My sister did, because she was going to make one, too. In the same color. It's the Best Friend Cardigan from Twinkle's Big City Knits. And she figured out the yardage in this yarn for a small, which is what I usually knit. But I often lengthen the sleeves and sometimes the waist, too. And since this pattern called for bobbles, which take up a lot of yarn, I figured I would have enough extra to lengthen it. It would be close, but do-able. I would have bought an extra ball or two, but there were only 26 balls left and since we both wanted the same color, I could only get the 13. So I did. And then I looked at the measurements. A small was supposed to be 28" around at the chest. Yes, the chest, not the waist. That's when I knew this would be interesting.

When it arrived, Mobi confirmed for me that it was soft and nap-worthy.The sweater knit up very quickly, and I did get an extra inch or so for waist length, because there was no way I was going to have a cropped bulky sweater. Ok, that was fine. Then I got to the sleeves. Using every last possible scrap of yarn left, I knit the sleeves as long as I could, several inches longer than the pattern called for. I was sure I would have enough length. Then I sewed them on. And they were a good two inches, maybe three, shorter than I would want. I thought maybe I could make them stretch, so I wore it one day to work to try it out, without buttons because I hadn't bought any yet. And I came to the conclusion that it just wouldn't work. On a thick, warm sweater I need sleeves that cover my wrists.Now, at this point I was faced with a decision. I could order more yarn, because even though the Alaska was long sold out, they were still selling Aspen, the same yarn but in 50yard balls. I would therefore spend another $20 on yarn and still need to buy huge buttons, which probably were going to run me another $15 at least. Or, I could frog the whole thing and make what I had really been wanted to do since I got the Rowan 42 magazine, which was the Alpine Shrug.
Surely 13 balls of this could make something that didn't even have sleeves. And that would save me all the extra money to finish this cardigan and the money I would have used to buy yarn to make this shrug. So, that's what I did. I frogged and frogged and frogged and then knit and knit and knit, and then ran out of yarn. Before the shrug was done. I had just received an email from Webs giving me a coupon for free shipping, and I knew what I had to do. So, $20 and 2 skeins later I had enough yarn to do one more repeat, which still wasn't enough, according to the pattern. It was certainly big enough, however, once I got it sewn up. Almost too big. I wore it around town this weekend and I swear it stretched out. Juan called it my turtle sweater because it really looks like a turtle shell. But it's so big, the bottom petal can't be seen, it's just folded underneath. And no, I didn't do gauge. Because it was a shrug and the yarn called for #19 needles, and I just figured it would work. I swear this yarn had led me to so many bad decisions, I'm starting to think it's cursed. So, I am going to have to adjust this somehow if I am going to wear it. I could reknit the whole thing on #17s, or I could try mildly felting it. While I'm really really tempted to try the felting, if I screw it up, there's no hope for the yarn's recovery.
Anyone who is still reading this had experience with alpaca/wool yarn and felting? What do you think? Is it worth a shot or a really bad idea? Any suggestions, ideas, sound advice would be welcome. Because I have a $70 shrug I'm not thrilled with right now. I'm actually considering re-doing the Best Friend Cardi now that I know I'd have enough yarn to finish it. This is the state of my head right now people.

PS This is not the only knitting drama around here lately, but I'll save the other one for the next post.

I got a haircut

Sometimes it's the Little Things

I walked out of the house today in a wool sweater and down vest with fingerless gloves and no hat. The temperature was 15 degrees F. Thing is, it seemed balmy out there. And it was, compared to the 10 degrees below zero that greeted me on the way to work the other day. Now, I'm normally a person who overdresses for the weather. So I couldn't believe what the thermometer said when I got in the car. Could I actually, possibly, finally be toughening up and facing my Northern-born fate? Nah. Second time I left the house this morning, I put on my long down coat and my wool hat.

Frozen Weekend and Neck Warmers

This weekend Winona held its 3rd Annual Frozen River Film Festival. Juan and I started the weekend off appropriately by snowshoeing on the river, going into the backwaters that we usually canoe through. While we did see some animals tracks skittering across the ice, the only wild life that revealed itself to us was a beaver who promptly disappeared into a hole in the ice. brrrr!!! The films we saw were really thought-provoking, touching, and sometimes a little scary. The theme of the film festival is environmental awareness. Some of the memorable films we saw included a couple on local and organic farming, followed by a panel of local farmers. You can see Fridays at the Farm here, which was my favorite. The Dalai Lama Renaissance was a very insightful film about a group of leading American intellectuals who met with the Dalai Lama to solve the world's problems, only to learn that the process must begin with the individual.

Continuing on with the Christmas gift showcase, here are the two "neckwarmers" I made. The first one I designed for my friend Lisa. I used the same stitch pattern from My So-Called Scarf, holding Berroco Ultra Alpaca doubled. I used two heavy silver horns at an angle and didn't make button holes so she could adjust how she wears it. Meridith is modeling it here.A close-up of the silver horn buttons.
My mom's present took the longest- I actually had to give it to her half done and then work on it madly the rest of the week to finish it. The pattern is from Rowan 42 and is called the Tapestry Scarf. The yarns I used were Rowan Kidsilk Haze, Rowan 4-ply soft, and Rowan Tapestry. It creates a plaid pattern and is actually warmer than it looks, since the yarns are all wool, silk, mohair, and soybean. Yes, soybean (the Tapestry yarn) And again, my "rotate picture" is not working *sigh* Just crane your neck, I guess.

Beer and babies

This is an ad I came across while doing research this summer in turn-of-the-century literary magazines from Buenos Aires. (If you click on it, you can see it better, I think) It's for a Guinness-like beer and the rhyme goes:
¿Por qué puede criar esos mellizos
tan sanos y rollizos?
Pues porque mientras dura su lactancia
toma nuestra cerveza en abundancia.

Roughly translated as:
Why is she able able to raise these twins
to be so healthy and plump?
Well, it's because while she breast feeds
she drinks our beer abundantly.

Itty Bitty Sweaters

Today's feature of the Christmas showcase is.... baby sweaters! Since my friends have become quite fecund this past year, I had the opportunity to make my favorite project item in miniature, times three. For Jai's little guy Jack, I made the Placket Neck Sweater from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. I really wanted to make it striped, but I didn't know how much yarn I had and if it would be enough. Turns out, it was! (just barely)
I managed to get the stripes to line up with the sleeves/body all the way around.Here's my favorite part...the buttons are coordinating hippos.So cute or what?
For his sister Ella, I made the Avita pattern from Paloma's website. Such a fun, easy pattern. I was bummed I didn't have enough yarn for the ties, but I think it's still cute. This was knit with Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino yarn and is soooo soft. I can't get this picture to rotate correctly- grrr For Amy's little guy Graham, I went with Kate Gilbert's Baby Pea Pod cardigan. The pictures are awful- they do not show the color well at all. It's a bright green, much happier than it appears here. The lace panel by the button band forms little pea pods- for a little sweet pea.The neck band, sleeve cuffs and waist have a cute detailed leaf design, too. These buttons are made of a reddish natural wood, and go nicely with the nature-themed pattern. I'm hoping to receive pictures of the babies in their new duds, which would be so much better than seeing them all here just flat.
(hint, hint ladies :)

Snow

There's a lot of it here, and it keeps coming down. The temperatures have been hovering around zero for the past few days, too, so we are really in the middle of winter now. Although the urge is to hibernate surrounded by yarn and living off life-sustaining hot chocolate, I've been trying to stay active. Friday before the really chilly weather (I think it was a balmy 15 degrees or so), Juan and I went snowshoeing on some nearby trails. Saturday I did the treadmill and Sunday was my favorite yoga class. Today it was back to the gym this morning and I even left myself time to do the sauna/hot tub circuit. I haven't been knitting much because I'm exhausted from all the Christmas knitting. I did the math, and I made 10 gifts in three months. It was a lot of fun, and I'm glad I did, but I'll have to space them out next time.

Speaking of knitted gifts, now that they are all gifted and complete, I can showcase what has kept me busy for the past few months. You've already seen the prayer shawl and clapotis. Today I'm going to show you the Log Cabin Socks from Handknit Holidays. I first decided to knit these for my dad, but they were so much fun to knit that I decided they would be great for my sister's boyfriend, Eben, too. This is a really great pattern and the finished product is amazing! They are so comfortable and cozy, it's hard to take them off. For both pairs I used Brown Sheep Superwash wool because I really like how it knits up, washes, and holds cable texture. The colors are beautiful, too. They have lots of depth and complexity. I am a big, big fan of this yarn now.Papa's color is called "Lichen" and has greens, blues, greys, and browns.Eben's sock color is "Peacock," which is navy blue with flecks of fuschia and greens. I tried to get a shot of these colors in the sun:
Next knitted gift featured: Baby Sweaters!!! Stay tuned....

Home Sweet Home

We are finally back in Winona after a non-stop 21 hour drive between snow storms. I am just finishing up my first work day back (hours clocked: 10), and we now have a four-day weekend to settle in and get used to the idea of teaching again. My course load this semester is going to be easy: I've taught all my courses before and only have two preps. Which means, no excuses, the dissertation MUST get written.

Here's a corner of my kitchen. The apron hanging on the wall is one I made before break uninterrupted while watching Gone With the Wind. The red and orange checked cloth is a towel hanging from its towel loop. Isn't it adorable? The pattern is from Amy Butler's book In Stitches

We're all happy to be home and not living out of a suitcase (and Mobi is once again the center of her universe).

The Clapotis

If you are an Internet knitter (and you know who you are!), you no doubt are familiar with the Clapotis. You may have even knit one (or two, or three, or....)

This shawal/scarf from Kate Gilbert, available for free on Knitty.com, has been very popular in the blogosphere for the past couple of years. So, when I was trying to figure out what I wanted to knit as a gift for my friend Rosine, this chic, multi-faceted, French-inspired pattern was the perfect fit. Finding yarn was not so easy. I finally settled on some while visiting Oklahoma City, though I immediately began questioning my choice. I'm not used to such colorful yarn, and I found it hard to reconcile my eyes to the variety. (Even though this is really not that colorful compared to some out there). In the end, she says she really loved it and the colorway was perfect and she was taking it with her to Paris over the winter break. I hope it's true, because I am STILL not sure how I feel about this yarn. It's Fiesta Yarn's Ballet, and with 50% superfine alpaca and 50% tencel, the feel was amazingly soft and warm with a nice subtle sheen to it.

The thing is, I'm not thrilled with the brown bits marking the transitions from the pink and green, since there is also black in it, and mixing those two is just against my style religion. And the color dispersement was inconsistent with this pattern, at least, resulting in some striping and some pooling of color at other points. Here's a shot where this discrepancy is notable: (That big gaping hole smack in the middle of the picture was taken care of, by the way). But all that counts is that she likes it and she at least said she does. The pattern does create a fabulous texture:And the dropped stitches look really cool and make this look harder to knit than it was.
Seeing as I gave this to her right before she jetted off to Paris, I only have photos of me in it for the moment.

Tis the Season to Make Whoopie

PIES!!!!! (If you're on a New Year diet, just keep one for yourself and share the love with friends and neighbors)
Here's how. You'll need:
To make six CAKES
2 cups of flour
1/2 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup light brown sugar
1 large egg, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk

To make the FILLING
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon of salt
2 1/2 cups of Marshmallow Fluff

1. For the CAKES: Adjust racks to upper-middle and lower-middle position and set oven to 350. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Whisk the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl.
2. With an electric mixer at med speed, beat butter and brown sugar until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the egg until incorporated, then beat in the vanilla. Reduce the speed to low and add the flour mixture and the buttermilk in two batches.
3. Using a 1/3 cup measure, scoop six mounds of batter onto each baking sheet, spacing the mounds about 3 inches apart. Bake until the cakes spring back when pressed, 15 to 18 minutes, switching halfway through baking. Cool the cakes completely on the baking sheets, at least 1 hour.
4. For the FILLING: With an electric mixer at med speed, beat the butter and confectioners' sugar together until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the vanilla and salt. Beat in the Fluff until incorporated. Refrigerate the filling until slightly firm, about 30 minutes. (Can be refrigerated for up to 2 days).
5 Dollop 1/3 cup of the filling on the center of the flat side of six of the cakes. Top with the flat side of remaining six cakes and gently press until the filling spreads to the edge of the cake. (Whoopie pies can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 3 days)

This is a new version I tried from the book I gave my mom for her birthday: America's Best Lost Recipes from America's Test Kitchen. It's on page 199. The thing to know about this recipe is that it calls for butter in the frosting rather than Crisco. So if you want to go traditional, go Crisco. If you just want rich, delicious goodness, this will do.

Holiday Baking

We started the baking season off right away with a cake for Julian's 7th birthday.It's a fire truck, complete with oreo wheels and a pretzel ladder. After doing a batch of the obligatory almond spritz cookies, I went for savory with some super-easy cheese puffs for munching. (Like my new apron?)A close up. Here's me at my birthday lunch wearing the hat Julian thoughtfully made for me: "So, when can I eat one of these cupcakes here taunting me?"

SURPRISE!

That's what I heard the other day when I walked in the door still a little sniffly from having just watched Juno. I thought we had already celebrated my 30th birthday earlier that day with a fabulous feast of lobster rolls, pesto pasta, and red velvet cupcakes. But no, there was more! Thanks for the awesome surprise guys- it was great to see everyone from both celebrations and talk to those who couldn't make it. It was, indeed, a memorable day.

Tapas Party

You have to be careful about giving out oral invites to a tapas party, because people always end up hearing "topless" instead. And while I'm not one to stifle anyone's self-expression, that just doesn't seem to fit here in Lake Woebegone land. So, no, we did not have that kind of party. But we did have the most people ever over for dinner a few weeks ago. We were a total of lucky 13, and while there were lots of other people we wanted to invite, we decided to keep the numbers to what we had for plates and wine glasses. I ended up having to buy extra forks as it was. Everyone already knew each other and could entertain themselves, which was one less stress-inducement for me. We had a lot of fun and I think we used every serving-related wedding present in the house. One of our friends couldn't stop talking about all the great serving ware- his wife said he never pays attention to that sort of thing. So, thanks everyone who contributed to our evening's success! Here's the pre-party, cold tapas spread: Here it is at another angle with mood lighting:We loosened everyone up with plenty of sangría and just had a ton of food. See how many different kinds of tapas you can spot in the photos. This was right after the most stressful weeks of the semester, so it was really healthy for us to concentrate on something else for a couple of days and to see people we hadn't seen for weeks and weeks. I meant to take pictures at the party, but I was just having too much fun.

Classes are over!

The professors are having a big party tonight. No joke. Walking around town today I ran into half a dozen people asking if I was going. It's going to be quite the bash, I suspect. The poor students are busy studying and finishing up final papers and projects. whahahha....

The Cities

That's what we call Minneapolis/St. Paul here in Minnesota. I've come a long way, considering I used to tell people: "Yeah, we're going to Minnesota for the weekend" when we were already in Winona, Minnesota. I would get some "poor dear" glances and people would smile and nod politely (they're nice here, remember). The vocab was all new, it all sounded the same... Well, anyway, back to the trip.

The Walker Arts Center is having an exhibit of Frida Kahlo through the end of January so we took advantage of a recent long weekend to go up and take a look. We also stopped at some specialty stores to get goods for our tapas party. Photos of THAT event to follow at a later date.

We finally got to see the famous cherry spoon sculpture up close and personal and hence took some touristy photos to write home about.

My So-Called Life

I recently read an article in the New York Times about the tv series My So-Called Life coming out on DVD. I was a little taken aback by the intro of the article: "To a certain sort of woman who is somewhere between late youth and an unacknowledged middle age..."- (oh good god that is me- why does she make that sound so old?!?!).

This show came out in 1994, when I was working at the Wok Inn on Thursday nights and could therefore not watch only the most important tv show of my generation. Well, thanks to the snow storm this weekend and our pulling the tv plug this fall, I was searching the web for free tv shows online last night (yes, I know this is just what the writers are striking about... sue me, I needed knitting accompaniment and I was up to date on all my favorite podcasts). And there it was, under the "full episode" option on abc.com-- the pilot to My So-called Life!!! It resonated with me on many different levels. First, I was struck at the changes from 13 years ago: Angela and Rayanne start the show asking strangers for change to make a phone call (because teenagers didn't have cell phones back then, of course), the girls wear baggy plaid shirts (see Bellafante's quote below,) Angela's dyed hair that so scandalized would barely get a blink in today's world of tattoos and piercings (I sooo wanted hair like that!), not to mention her parents look so young to late youth/unacknowledged middle age me. It may be 13 years later, but I am glad I finally get to see this show. (Assuming ABC is planning on putting all the episodes up in the coming weeks)

Here are a couple of other good quotes from Ginia Bellafante's article that really captured certain aspects of my generation that make me glad I "came of age" when I did:

“My So-Called Life” imagined parents and teenagers operating out of separate and oppositional emotional spheres. It recognized adolescence as a psychological phase with a beginning and an end, and while that might seem a common-sense approach to the show’s subject, contemporary television rarely seems to take it."

As the touchstone examination of adolescence in the ’90s, “My So-Called Life” rejected the Clintonian ethos of ambition: striving, perhaps, wasn’t better. And at the same time it linked itself closely to the feminism of the period, one that prized interiority, self-help and revolutions from within. It was a diluted notion of female advancement, but at least it was a modestly dressed one. Angela wore late-grunge-era flannels and baggy shapes. So there is another way, finally, that “My So-Called Life” looks like no other teenage series that succeeded it: We never saw our heroine’s bellybutton."

Chaps or Chinks?

You have to go to the Pioneer Woman's web site to find out.

And don't blame me if you get sucked in and can't stop reading all her witty, hilarious posts to the point of being fired from your job.

Thanks to Aunt Lisa for getting me hooked on Rhee's site.